Part I: G. MacDonald/Tolkien/Lewis

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Masters of Fantasy: Part I

<img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.lostpathway.com/images/coir/tolkien.jpg" alt="" width="400">

Photo credit: J.R.R. Tolkien, from the back cover of The Hobbit

Considering that Raven was really the one that got me hooked on fantasy (I've always loved it, but it really took off through him), it would make sense to begin this introspection on the three authors he considers the backbone of his interest. During the time of the old website, these three were the inaugural entries, but it never went any further - and this blog is a means to rectify that. Much of what you see on Lost Pathway can be traced here, and though it's already archived, I feel it wouldn't hurt to clarify them again.




GEORGE MACDONALD (1824-1905)

A Scottish minister of Universalist leanings; acquaintance of many of the great names of the contemporary literati such as Longfellow, Tennyson, Dickens, Whitman, Trollope, and Thackeray; mentor of the great Lewis Carroll; and muse of the later C. S. Lewis (both of whom will also be addressed), MacDonald is primarily a master of fairy tale fantasy, exploring the human condition through fable and entertainment in such short works as "The Golden Key", "The Light Princess", and "The Wise Woman" as well as novels like The Princess and the Goblin, its sequel The Princess and Curdie, and At the Back of the North Wind. The culmination of his fantasy work, and perhaps his most remembered novels, lie in the metaphysical Phantastes and the haunting Lilith. He was also commended as one the first Scottish realist writers in his other non-fantasy work, though most of it has been unfortunately left by the wayside.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=macdonald_george)
The George MacDonald Society (http://www.george-macdonald.com/)
The George MacDonald Informational Web (http://georgemacdonald.info/)



J. R. R. TOLKIEN (1892-1973)

He may not be the first word in fantasy, nor is he the last, but there can be little doubt that the legendary Oxford professor/philologist and WWI veteran is one of the most revered names in the history of the genre. His gifts to the world are the wonderful adventure romp The Hobbit and its more ambitious sequel The Lord of the Rings, whose three parts - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King - constitute a benchmark in the construction of world-building and tale-telling that has been and will be homaged and imitated continuously. Even more amazing is the fact that after his passing, the world discovered the true extent of his self-described "lengendarium" through the sweeping cosmic history The Silmarillion and his other writings which, even today, are still being released. On a side note, one of his other great contributions to modern literature is the recognition of the epic Old English poem Beowulf as a scholarly work of art.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=tolkien_j_r_r)
The Tolkien Estate Website (http://www.tolkienestate.com/en/home.html)
The Tolkien Society (https://www.tolkiensociety.org/)
Conceptual Fiction - The Hobbit (http://www.conceptualfiction.com/the_hobbit.html)



C. S. LEWIS (1989-1963)

One of the foremost Christian intellectuals of his day, and still highly regarded by many,  Lewis is valued as much for his allegorical fantasies as he is his numerous apologetics. Chief among them is the children's classic The Chronicles of Narnia, a seven-part story (chronologically arranged as The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; and The Last Battle) telling of an "other world" where animals talk and mystic creatures abound, led by the (intentionally) godlike lion Aslan. Of more interest to adults is a curious trilogy of science fiction novels (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength) as well as single works like The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and Till We Have Faces. A close friend of Tolkien, both of them members of a loose organization of literary companions calling themselves "the Inklings", Lewis's importance to the development of fantasy, particularly Christian fantasy (and some reactionary counterparts), cannot be overstated.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=lewis_c_s)
The Official Website of C. S. Lewis (http://www.cslewis.com/us/)
The C. S. Lewis Foundation (http://www.cslewis.org/)
Conceptual Fiction - The Chronicles of Narnia (http://www.lostpathway.com/tavern/index.php/topic,16.0.html]http://www.conceptualfiction.com/chronicles_of_narnia.html[/url)


Let that be enough for now. Next time, I'll introduce my own submissions for consideration.

The topic of discussion in question can be found here: [url=http://www.lostpathway.com/tavern/index.php/topic,16.0.html]http://www.lostpathway.com/tavern/index.php/topic,16.0.html